


The Women's Weyr

by silveradept



Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Wirenth Lives, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 02:59:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17573006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept
Summary: Running a Weyr is difficult. It's not that Brekke doesn't have plenty of competent help, it's that she has Benden breathing down her neck trying to get her to change what she's built into something more...traditional.





	The Women's Weyr

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/gifts).



The chime warmly called Brekke from sleep. The dream had been so pleasant, but it was fleeting, whatever it had been. Outside her Weyr, Mirrim looked apologetic as she placed the striker back in the bowl.

"I'm sorry to wake you up," she said. "The Benden Weyrleaders are scheduled to visit today."

"No doubt so F'lar can cluck his tongue at me about 'tradition' and how 'unnatural' it is here." Brekke said, amusement creeping into her voice as she imagined a scene yet to come. F'lar would be strident, Brekke would be implacable, and Lessa and Mirrim would constantly have to shift their positions so that F'lar wouldn't see the smiles on both their faces when Lessa's weyrmate's back was turned.

 _I am pleased to hear you in good spirits,_ Wirenth said to her. _J'sca reports another feline attack by where the last clutch of eggs was sighted_.

 _Another?_ Brekke frowned. The felines were getting bolder, or hungrier, around the fire-lizard clutching spots. If they weren't taught proper fear of fire-lizards, they might start thinking of their bigger cousins as acceptable meal targets as well. _Tell J'sca to keep her eyes open and see if she can't find where the felines are nesting so we can move them._

 _I have done this,_ Wirenth said, a warm glow in her voice. _Now that you are awake, I will go bathe in the water._

 _Stay close by,_ Brekke admonished. _Emergencies are more common in Southern._

Wirenth took off toward the ocean as a response.

"I brought breakfast and juice," Mirrim said, smiling as Brekke stepped out of her sleeping weyr. "There may even be enough time to eat it before Benden arrives."

Brekke laughed as they took the stairs from the Weyrwoman's weyr to the office Brekke had set up in the Weyrleader's weyr. True to her word, Mirrim had set fruit juice and meatrolls on the desk. Brekke could smell a nearby pot of klah, but that could wait until Benden arrived and wanted something to take the chill from their bones and the sleep from their eyes.

"What is the business of today?" Brekke asked Mirrim, as she seated herself at the desk. Mirrim pointedly said nothing, gesturing at the rolls. Brekke took one and made a great show of eating it and drinking some juice before asking again.

"There must be some business," Brekke said, frowning. Mirrim again said nothing, the lift on her eyebrows all the communication needed to indicate what her priorities were.

"Stubborn rider," Brekke grumbled without malice. Mirrim's silence took on a challenging tone. With a sigh, Brekke relented, consuming all the food and the entire pitcher of juice.

"Better," Mirrim said. In any other Weyr, Mirrim would likely have been assigned weyrling duty for speaking to Brekke so, but Brekke knew her fosterling was the only other person in Southern who could run the Weyr as well as her.

 _She cares for you,_ Wirenth volunteered. _Path says she's just too stubborn to admit it._

 _In that we are agreed,_ Brekke returned, a smile playing at her lips.

"I am not," Mirrim said after a moment of her own communication with Path.

"You two are made for each other," Brekke said, unable to resist the familiar jibe. "Stubborn as draybeasts, both of you."

Indicating the clear table in front of herself, Brekke continued, "I have eaten and drank. What business for today?"

"Your business for today," Mirrim said to her, "is to receive and meet with Benden and send them away afterward without anyone challenging the other to a duel."

Brekke laughed.

" _My_ business is to make sure that nothing interrupts your meeting," Mirrim continued.

"Often I wish you had Impressed a bronze, Mirrim. That would make this easier." An indignant mental squawk from Path made Brekke laugh again.

"I would not trade Path for anything," Mirrim said. "But I do sometimes wish she were a bronze."

The chime at the entrance sounded. A weyrling smiled nervously at them from the front of the cave.

"Weyrleader F'lar and Weyrwoman Lessa of Benden," she said, shaking just a little bit.

"Thank you...B'trice", Brekke said, remembering the correct name at the last possible moment. "Rejoin the other weyrlings for morning training, please." she added, standing to greet the Benden Weyrleaders.

"Lessa, F'lar, welcome to Southern," Brekke said as warmly as she could muster this early. "Did you have time for a meal before you left?"

F'lar nodded.

"We did," Lessa said, after a moment of silence. "Something to drink would be nice, though."

Mirrim stepped outside the weyr and whistled two notes that echoed back into Brekke's ears. F'lar winced, although Brekke was certain it was for Mirrim's behavior rather than the unpleasantness of the sound.

Within minutes two weyrlings appeared with pitchers of juice and klah and enough cups for Brekke and the two Weyrleaders. After respectfully pouring the first cups to the now-seated trio, the weyrlings scampered out as fast as they had come in.

"There aren't enough chairs," F'lar said.

Lessa gave her weyrmate a dark look that went unseen.

"As you remember, Weyrleader," Brekke said patiently, "after what happened to the last senior queenrider of Southern, Wirenth was made senior queen and the next Weyrleader was agreed to be the dragon that flew her in her next mating flight. That flight has not yet happened."

"It's been nearly a year," F'lar growled.

"And Wirenth has not risen."

"This Weyr needs a Weyrleader," he said.

"It _has_ one," Brekke said, her patience starting to erode. "Southern has flourished under my leadership."

"And girls ride fighting dragons in defiance of all our traditions." F'lar retorted.

Lessa placed her hand on her weyrmate's arm. "Instead of bringing up old battles, why don't you ask about why we are here?" she said politely.

F'lar blinked a few times, as if he had forgotten what he was going to say next.

 _Give Lessa my thanks,_ Brekke said to Wirenth.

 _Lessa says you are welcome,_ Wirenth said to her at the same time. Brekke fought to avoid mirroring Lessa's sly smile at the exchange.

"According to what little survives of the Ancients," F'lar said slowly, as if picking up his words from the ground where they had been scattered, "they settled somewhere on the Southern Continent for a time before fleeing north."

"We were wondering if the felines that you have been fighting regularly might lead us to where the Ancients lived," Lessa added smoothly.

Brekke tried not to let her surprise show too much. "Why do you think that?" she said.

"J'sca's reports are very detailed," Lessa said. F'lar stiffened at the contraction, but subsided soon after. "The felines seem to be staying in the same general space when they attack. Maybe they're protecting something."

Brekke turned over the new idea in her head, plotting all the places the felines had been sighted on a map in her head.

"You're right," she said to Lessa as the picture started to take shape. "I don't know how I missed this."

"You were running a Weyr," Mirrim said from the front of the weyr, without turning around.

Brekke resisted the urge to contort her face in the same way she had seen Mirrim do when the weyrlings teased her.

"It's still a large area," Brekke replied to Lessa. "If there is something of the Ancients there, we will need to know where to look. Or we will need a lot of shovels."

"We have injured riders and dragons from Fall," Lessa said, smiling. "Something for them to do while they healed would help."

"And getting their complaining out of your Weyr would help you," Brekke pointed out.

Lessa's smile cracked slightly, and Brekke knew she had found a target.

"You know," Lessa said evenly, "Southern has a reputation for being the best Weyr to heal in. We need as many fighting wings as possible soon. I could talk to the other Weyrleaders and tell them the rumors about men healing twice as fast at Southern are true."

Brekke knew her own smile cracked far harder than Lessa's had.

 _Those who underestimate Lessa are fools,_ Brekke thought bitterly.

 _Gone,_ Wirenth corrected her gently. _Not fools._

Brekke almost scowled at Lessa for threatening her like this. If every Weyr sent their injured to her, she would have no time to do anything else but tend to them. Some would inevitably grow to like Southern and would want to stay. Soon enough, Southern would be like every other Weyr on Pern.

 _You are distressed._ Wirenth's concern came through much more strongly that Brekke had expected. _Can this plan wait?_

"I will take your injured," Brekke said, realizing the implications of what Wirenth was asking. "Once there is a Weyrleader who can properly look after them."

"Then I hope Wirenth rises soon," F'lar said swiftly, standing up from the table. "I would like to fly over the feline nests to see how many riders will be needed to cover it effectively."

Brekke sighed and stood herself. "I'll have J'sca take you there."

_Wirenth, would you ask Kirath to bring J'sca here? The Benden Weyrleaders would like to fly over the feline hunting grounds._

_She says she will meet them at the beach._

"They'll meet us at the beach," Brekke said aloud. "Kirath must have gone for a bath."

F'lar walked out without another word. Brekke walked out with Lessa. Mirrim grabbed a weyrling on a collision course with her and set her to escort the Benden Weyrleaders to the beach.

Watching them go, Brekke shook her head.

"Mirrim," she said, quietly. "After the Weyrleaders are finished, we should wait a small amount of time, and then send messages declaring that the Weyrwoman of Southern Weyr is closing the mating flight of the senior queen only to those who are at Southern."

"Benden will be unhappy about that," Mirrim said cautiously.

"I'm standing on tradition," Brekke said, laughing a little at the word. "He can be as unhappy as he wants, but he will allow it."

"And what about you? When the time comes, will you be able to follow _tradition_?" Mirrim said.

"Yes," Brekke said, still smiling. "I may not have any interest in mating flights, but I am quite sure that the bronzes of Southern do not feel the same way toward Wirenth."

 _There are many fine bronzes here. None can catch me, but it will be amusing to watch them try,_ Wirenth said smugly.

 _I am sure of that,_ Brekke replied. _And if they do succeed, then we will show them what a Women's Weyr can do._

"Shall we join Benden in their excursion?" Mirrim said. "If we are going to be hosting their riders soon, we should see what tasks they will be doing."

"I think that is a good idea," Brekke said. "Wirenth needs some additional exercise for her upcoming flight."

Smiling, Brekke followed Mirrim down the steps to the beach, where the dragons were busily enjoying themselves in the warm water.


End file.
